End of Chapter 33

Elysian and Icarus were laid side by side in a room softened by gentle hues and neutral tones. But they were both as sickly as corpses despite the blood, her blood, dripping into their veins. There were bandages all over Icarus's torso, and more on Elysian's arm, wrapped so thickly it bulged. But it was the sickly scent that frightened her, clinging to their skin, tasting like death, like weakness, like infection. Their faces were so gaunt, so awfully pale, lips so blue that it horrified her.

And at the very end of the room, there was a black panel of glass, one that was so strangely uncharacteristic that she didn't have to guess to know that it was a mirror. One that allowed others to peer into the room. A one-way mirror. Rowan, her mind supplied, Rowan and the rest of the boys.

They were watching.

They were waiting for her.

Were they going to kill her here?

Or would they kill her once she stepped out of the room?

They didn't want her anymore.

They had no need for her.

So they would kill her.

The gentle whir of cameras spinning had her dizzy, and she settled on the chair beside Elysian, waiting for him to rouse from his slumber. He'd cracked open one eye, just as beautiful as ever. A gentle smile, then so much rage, so much care. It had broken her.

It was more love than anything she'd received in these five torturous days. She'd smiled. They wanted her dead for a reason, and it must be for the two who struggled before her. Her death would mean more blood. Her flesh, her sustenance, her love, her life, she'd give it all. There was no point in living in this shitty fucked up world. She closed her eyes.

Fitting.

At the very least, she'd go knowing that they cared enough to risk their lives.

And then Elysian had given her hope, sweetly whispered from his lips. He'd turn to her to speak, face angled so the people behind the mirror couldn't read him, couldn't hear him. He was serious. He wanted to claim her. He would be her first mate, her first lover. Her Omega.

He was willing to give that to her, to allow the sink of her teeth and accept the mating bond. It was a risk, for she could claim him and leave, she could break him and run. Euodia the Beta had left when she'd claimed Solar who'd loved her with all his heart. There was a risk that she'd ruin him too.

The mating bite, the claim, it differed from species to species. And for vampires. It was about the exchange of blood, the drinking, the replacement. The feelings had to be there, necessary for the venom that he injected into her must be flooded with honesty. Must be filled with want, need and adoration. Elysian, to request something so taxing on his body, to allow something so honest, so pure?

He liked her.

He wanted her.

He loved her.

And there were tears now in her eyes, hidden from the mirror on the wall. She could almost see the five of them standing behind its glossy exterior, waiting to take her life, waiting to watch her go. Euodia's death burned in her mind. More tears.

But the claim, what would it mean? What could it mean? For the blood to tie, for the soul to bond. What would it mean to be the bonded mate of a vampire? She didn't know. But she sank her teeth into his skin, right as he did to hers. Her collar stung for a second, then spluttered into silence.

It was them against this evil world.

The screams echoed, and the mirror broke. The trembling of his body. The hands reaching for them, Elysian holding her tighter, holding her closer so that he might sink his teeth in deeper, no pain only gentle heat. The horror. The cries. The golden spark that flooded her so readily, so forgivingly, so sweetly, so gently, so lovingly. The taste of his blood was like the taste of pleasure, like heat travelling through her limbs on the coldest of days. There were tears in her eyes. He was in her, he was there. He was everywhere. In her head there were a thousand memories of his past, swiftly drifting through him, dragging them through their connections.

Her heart was so full she could almost burst.

Her face. Her smile. Him, watching as she cooked, lingering at the door. The light drenching her hair, turning it into spun gold. The pink of her cheeks from the snow. The stars in her eyes. Him, making her meals, thinking about the nutrients she might need. His thoughts on her health, his thoughts of her happiness.

Him, standing at the door, listening to her tears, her quiet sobs, tasting it in the air, whimpering. Him, knowing so deeply that she was just as much a victim of the system as he was. Him, worried that they would have to hurt her. Him, falling so deeply into her eyes he couldn't resurface. He didn't understand it, couldn't understand it.

He had been quietly watching her, falling for her, loving her.

Gods.

And when her soul clicked with his, connected on a level so deep she couldn't understand it. His eyes settled on hers, confused and blinking, as she was swept away by the guards and taken through the doors.

Her soul soared.

Elysian had always been her soulmate.

*

Zen

"Why?" he'd screamed. His heart was breaking, his knees were on the ground, hands on the bed, eyes hot.

They'd taken her away, had snatched her back to her cell. But already Elysian seemed healthier, better. And her blood, pumping steadily into Icarus's body, now coloured his cheeks. And it would be better for Icarus if he drank from her now, flavoured with Elysian as her new mate, as the pack's potential new mate.

It was the right move, but Zen refused to accept it. He refused to understand it. His heart was pounding, the coldness was overwhelming; it felt as if something buzzed within his skin. A thousand ants, a hundred bees. He felt as if he were dying.

"Why Elysian? Why?"

"Elysian you're crazy," Helios had wept into his palm, wings curled. There were shards of glass in his hair. "Why would you do this to us? Why would you do this? You've taken her as your mate. You're not ours now—"

Solar was sobbing, fingers scratching at the old bite on his neck. Euodia's half-completed claim. "You're ruined. You're ruined like I am."

Elysian had stared at them all, a solemn look on his face. "It makes sense."

You could die when we have to take her heart!" Rowan had screeched, hands splayed. But his mate was odd. When they'd decided her death, Rowan had sagged into himself, had been unable to speak for hours. And now, his words flowed. "Did you think of that? Did you consider that?"

"You were going to kill her," Elysian replied, the words had Zen flinching back. Murderer. Murderer. Murderer.

"That was the fucking plan," Klaus slammed a fist down against the wall. "That was exactly what we had to fucking do. That was our decree."

"Icarus wouldn't have survived without a mate's blood that he could consume," Elysian answered simply, did not react to their rage. He combed his fingers through Icarus's hair, and their mate stirred. "With our bond now loosely connected to her through me. He will recover."

"But her heart!" Solar had gasped out. "Her heart was the cure, Gods. We suffered for so long, for what? For what? Now you want us tortured from a broken mating bond as well? We have to kill her Elysian, we have to take her life. Your life is now tied to hers; it will never be easy. You will break. I know it, I—"

"You can't see her future, and you can't see ours. Her heart was merely a bet, and I know how you feel about it, your nightmares," Elysian whispered. "The scientists were not as sickly as we were themselves. If it hadn't worked, if biting her didn't make Icarus better. You could have killed her when I passed. It would be the best for all of you. I would have sacrificed myself, but Icarus might have lived, I was willing to take that chance."

Zen was numb when he spoke. "But you're mated now. You're mated to her." His heart stung, burning hot coals. Oddly, the envy grew, grew like a monster within his chest, biting and snarling. He should be the one mated to her.

"I know," Elysian answered. "Besides I doubt the heart would have worked…" His hum was soft, pondering.

"W-what?" Solar was rushing forward. "Elysian—"

And then Icarus was rousing, groaning. "You're all so fucking noisy."

And the attention was gone from Elysian, his Alphas jumping towards his mate. Icarus's health had joy slipping through their bond, tearful cries from his mates. And yet Zen remained in his corner, staring, staring at Elysian as if he had done something wrong.

And when they'd slipped out of the door so that his mates could rest, Zen had lingered at a corner, pressed to the walls. He was stronger than the rest of them, more sensitive, more powerful. His ears were focused upon the room. He was miles away, and yet he could hear every word.

A pause, and Icarus's muffled queries. "You mated her."

"Yeah."

"Mm," his lover didn't even ask, didn't grow wild with rage. There were no questions, only a low weak chuckle. The rustle of sheets as he settled into the bed. Zen didn't understand them, didn't understand what had changed. Didn't they hate her? "I didn't think you'd be the first."

First? First of what? Elysian laughed. "Zen was angry."

"He was the first one to react?"

"He was." Elysian cleared his throat, "he destroyed the mirror."

"That idiot," Icarus snorted, and Zen flushed, bristling at the answer.

There was a pause, a light cough. "You do not question my decision?"

Icarus's voice was soft as he settled back into the bed. "What's done is done."

"You should have seen her face when she came in, the wounds on her arms. The pain she had to go through. I— I couldn't." There was a break in Elysian's voice, a tremble that had Zen's mind rushing back to the scene. The look in her eyes, his teeth snagged on his lower lip, drawing blood. Her small figure at the bottom of their council, hunched upon the stand. He'd turned to cry, left to sob into his palms, weakened by his own emotions. He'd hoped to be freed of them, and yet now he remained chained to the craziness of his feelings when it came to Quinn. "The things I said to them were all excuses. I just wanted to save her."

"I tasted your decision in your blood, long before you knew it." There was another pause. "What did you see?"

"What?" Elysian's voice grew sharper, rising a pitch.

"What did you see in her blood as her mate?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"I've tasted your blood, you've tasted mine. You know vampires can see some of their mate's past from a mating bite. The things it believes we need to see. What did you see in her?"

Zen froze, body tensed for the answer.

There was a pause, then a whisper.

"She has always been honest about her time in the wastelands, about her loss of memories. Beyond that, there's nothing but darkness, a rush of blue. But there's something I saw that frightened me. Gods, Icarus, I think, we've made a mistake. Our Alpha can't be her."

"What?"

"We've taken it from her. This won't be the first time."

"What do you mean?" Icarus's voice was cold.

"Icarus, we have already eaten her heart. We ate it all three years ago. We licked her corpse clean. Even so, we're becoming Lonely."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Quinn…" There were tears in his voice, a strange choking gasp. "Was Euodia."